Marty Pallman
Special to FlaVarsity.com
The Leesburg Yellow Jackets just keep on winning after a tough regular season slate. Now they are one win away from their second straight state title.
Leesburg, 4A champions a year ago, scored the final four points of the game to rally past Jacksonville Wolfson 57-56 this morning in the first Class 6A semifinal at the FHSAA Boys Basketball Finals in Lakeland.
Next up for Leesburg is the Miami Norland Vikings, who are looking for their third state title in 7 years themselves. Norland slipped by Winter Haven 46-37 in the second 6A semi.
Leesburg held Wolfson to 31 percent shooting in the first half and took a 30-23 lead into halftime. But Wolfson picked it up in the second half, shooting 46 percent and trailed the Yellow Jackets by only 4 going into the fourth quarter.
"We changed our defensive strategy at the half," Wolfson coach Bruce Rosebrock said. "Offensively we weren't doing what we wanted to do but it was time to be more aggressive on defense."
Wolfson actually had a 56-53 lead with a little over a minute to play, but Leesburg got two baskets in 11 seconds, the last one off a steal, to take the lead for good with 55 seconds left.
The Wolfpack (25-6) ran the clock all the way down to 5 seconds, but Lucious Richardson was called for traveling. Taj Lake then missed two free throws with 1.7 seconds left for Leesburg, but Wolfson could only manage an almost full court shot at the buzzer that missed wide left.
"We were looking to score not waste time there at the end," Rosebrock added. "I was hoping we would be more aggressive but it just didn't work out that way."
Wolfson, making it's first state semifinal appearance since 1999, was led by Jasper Sasser with 10 points and eight rebounds. It was a balanced attack for the Wolfpack as they had six player with eight points or more.
But Leesburg (20-9) will move on to try to follow up last year's 4A state title. Head Coach Marcel Thomas' Yellow Jackets played defending state champion Dwyer along with 4A state finalist Lake Highland Prep and 2A state champ Orlando Christian Prep on a very challenging slate this season. But it has brought this battle-tested team back to the state championship game.
Leesburg was led by Undra Mitchem with 18 points, Troy Willis added 11 and Jullliard Roberts chipped in with 10 points. All-State performer Joe Toolie also had nine points, five rebounds and four assists.
Norland goes for history with 46-37 win over Winter Haven
The second 6A semifinal wasn't as pretty offensively. But all the Miami Norland Vikings and coach Lawton Williams III care about is they are playing for their third state in seven years.
Norland shrugged off 30 percent shooting and held Winter Haven to 27 percent from the field as the Vikings beat the Blue Devils 46-37 in the second Class 6A semifinal at the Lakeland Center.
Norland held Winter Haven to 17 percent from the floor in the opening half but struggled themselves offensively and carried only a 20-14 lead into halftime.
Norland then moved out to a 26-15 lead midway through the third quarter, but a 10-0 Blue Devil run cut the Vikings lead to 26-25. At that point Williams took a timeout to settle his team down.
"I told them remember why you're here," Williams said. "We didn't play particularly well, but we're moving on."
Winter Haven actually took a 33-32 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Norland went on a 14-4 run the rest of the way.
Norland's Cleon Roberts led both teams with 22 points. He was the only Vikings player in double figures as Norland (28-3) also forced 10 Winter Haven turnovers.
"We had a couple of breakdowns in the third quarter and early fourth," Roberts said. "We just had to keep working and dig down deep and we did."
Norland, 6A state champions under in 2006 and 2008 under Williams, is trying to become only the fourth school in FHSAA history to win the state football and basketball titles in the same season. The others were Port St. Joe in 1971-72, Bradenton Southeast in 94-95, and Cocoa in 2008-09.
"Our athletic director is putting some pressure on us about that," Williams said with a smile.
Winter Haven's first appearance in the state semis since 2004 ended with a grinding loss. The Blue Devils (23-8) just really couldn't get anything going on offense.
"We brought in taller guys to practice to get ready for this big team," Winter Haven coach Tyrone Woodside said. "What you can't simulate is the atmosphere of a game like this."
Winter Haven was led by DeVon Walker with 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Chance McSpadden added 9 points and Kendrick Holland had 12 rebounds.
It's Leesburg and Miami Norland for the 6A state title Saturday afternoon at 1:35 at the Lakeland Center.
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